It hasn’t been a super season for feminism. There was the
Madeleine Albright tone deaf comment about a special place in hell
for women who don’t vote for a woman, and Gloria Steinem didn’t win any sympathy
from young women when she characterized them as plain vanilla bobby soxers chasing
guys at college who favor Bernie Sanders, not because they are attracted to his
ideas but because, well, that is where the boys are.
Nevertheless, there is a remarkable policy wonk running for
the Democrats in Hillary Clinton. If she can stay on message, maybe, just maybe,
she will perhaps, one day, win the hearts and minds of those in places like
Iraq and other trouble spots in the Middle East.
That is where Gertrude Bell, the Desert Queen (1868-1926) http://lat.ms/21ux5CT, made her mark. Hillary
could do a lot worse than evoking this great woman who, as a representative of
the British Empire, devoted her life to smart public policy that has yet to be
improved upon. Gertrude Bell lived her principles – and won support and
appreciation from Christians, Arabs and Jews alike.
Here is what she said about Iraq in 1918:
“There is nothing easier to manage than tribes if you’ll
take advantage of tribal organization and make it a basis of administrative
organization … and establish familiar relations with sheikh and headman and
charge them with their right share of work and responsibility.”
If only this great were with us. And she could be, if Hillary
Clinton were to set the right course with a campaign that embraces values and
ideals best exemplified in the life and death of Gertrude Bell.
Next: Running for Your
Life: Trouble With Slow
